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Spot crypto: what you own and who holds the keys
In a spot trade you get the asset itself. What matters next is who controls the keys and what price you can really get.
What changes hands?
A spot trade is an exchange of the asset itself, rather than a time-limited derivative. “Owning crypto” still leaves a custody question. On a centralized exchange, a third party may control the keys that enable access. In self-custody, you control those keys and bear the responsibility of protecting them. The SEC's investor bulletin explains both arrangements and their loss risks. Investor.gov ↗
Two ways a trade can find a price
A centralized exchange such as Coinbase matches orders against an order book and publishes trade records through its API. Coinbase docs ↗ A decentralized exchange can instead use a liquidity pool, where a smart contract changes the price as the pool balances change. Uniswap v2 documents a constant-product example. Other decentralized venues may use different designs. Uniswap ↗
Neither route guarantees the displayed price for your full size. An order can face spread, fees, slippage and thin liquidity. A paper simulation must state how it models them; a chart alone cannot prove an executable fill. SEC ↗
Sources
Examples marked made-up numbers are invented. Nothing in this lesson is a recorded CouchChange result or a recommendation.
Try it
If an exchange account shows “1 BTC,” who controls the key to move it?
Think it through, then open an answer
It depends on the custody arrangement. A balance display alone does not tell you whether you or a third party controls the keys.